Beating the odds, exciting survival stories

[bw_wolverine]

It's not terrifically harrowing in terms of contact with the enemy, but I think I beat the odds on this one simply because I was so far away from friendly territory AND managed to land it safely while looking around the cockpit and not having the gear pump mapped to a keyboard key (now I do ).

From the No.401 Squadron flight log book:

DATE OF FLIGHT: Midday, Feb 12, 2012
AIRCRAFT FLOWN: YO-X BW801
APPROXIMATE DURATION OF FLIGHT: 30 minutes
LEADER OF FLIGHT: Pilot Officer Wolverine
DESCRIPTION OF FLIGHT EVENTS: Took off from Manston airfield with Leading Aircraftman Elvis and proceeded on a South West patrol of the English coastline towards Folkstone. Upon arrival at Folkstone, re-vectored towards the French point.

Reached the French point at 12,000 ft and took flak damage to the engine such that I was bleeding oil slowly. Immediately turned flight command over to LAC Elvis and turned towards England. Set trim for gliding and shut the engine down to prevent further damage.

Returned to the English coast under no engine power. At 1,000 ft I turned westward to line up an emergency landing on the beach below the cliffs west of Dover. Landing gear was non-operative due to lack of oil pressure requiring manual deployment using the hand pump. Unable to use the hand pump and look out of the canopy at the same time, so alternated between pumping the gear down and looking for safe landing location.

On the verge of a stall for the final 500ft, I managed to get one of the wheels down and locked while lining up my final landing. Holding the plane as steady as I could, I returned to cranking the gear down and the final strut locked into place 10ft above the ground before I leveled out and put the Hurricane in the sand.

Let the plane roll out safely and came to a stop on three wheels, no further damage.

Engine inoperative.

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by bw_wolverine

It's not terrifically harrowing in terms of contact with the enemy, but I think I beat the odds on this one simply because I was so far away from friendly territory AND managed to land it safely while looking around the cockpit and not having the gear pump mapped to a keyboard key (now I do ).

From the No.401 Squadron flight log book:

DATE OF FLIGHT: Midday, Feb 12, 2012
AIRCRAFT FLOWN: YO-X BW801
APPROXIMATE DURATION OF FLIGHT: 30 minutes
LEADER OF FLIGHT: Pilot Officer Wolverine
DESCRIPTION OF FLIGHT EVENTS: Took off from Manston airfield with Leading Aircraftman Elvis and proceeded on a South West patrol of the English coastline towards Folkstone. Upon arrival at Folkstone, re-vectored towards the French point.

Reached the French point at 12,000 ft and took flak damage to the engine such that I was bleeding oil slowly. Immediately turned flight command over to LAC Elvis and turned towards England. Set trim for gliding and shut the engine down to prevent further damage.

Returned to the English coast under no engine power. At 1,000 ft I turned westward to line up an emergency landing on the beach below the cliffs west of Dover. Landing gear was non-operative due to lack of oil pressure requiring manual deployment using the hand pump. Unable to use the hand pump and look out of the canopy at the same time, so alternated between pumping the gear down and looking for safe landing location.

On the verge of a stall for the final 500ft, I managed to get one of the wheels down and locked while lining up my final landing. Holding the plane as steady as I could, I returned to cranking the gear down and the final strut locked into place 10ft above the ground before I leveled out and put the Hurricane in the sand.

Let the plane roll out safely and came to a stop on three wheels, no further damage.

Engine inoperative.

Exactly the type of story I was looking for, well done!...my fondest memories from the Il-2 years are all similar, having damage and making it home.

[Sokol1]

A difficult RTB.

My tipical Blenhein flights in ATAG's server follows the green lines in this map:



One day I decide try a long range flight, hunting for german trains.

Entering through the France "back door". No FLAK in this spot.



Low flight over (empty) railroads.



After about ~20 minutes of flight, the "CGI" report a train next to Le Guines. At momment I am too far, near to Rely Norrent Fontes, so change path for North.



This region - next to Calais - is populated with active Luftwaffe bases with heavy FLAK. With a eye on a 109 climbing up ahead, I notice a white smoke between trees.



The German traim!



Turn, lined up, and delivered the "milk cans".



So, the rear gunner report some aircraft parts flying away...

To mantain "level" flight, 45 degrees of left yoke became necessary.



I fly straight to England, but on route, a Minensuchoot...



With a difficult right turn I passed him.

Over England, north of Dover, a turn to left toward Lympse - my departure base, but this course put me near Hawkinge - "The vultures land".

Soon I see FLAK over this base and two strafing vultures.


The dot below AAA burst is diving a 109.

I go for the deck, near tree tops, and try pass unnoticed, but soon Batfink report a DB engine sound...



I did a hard left break turn at low speed.. get some hits, started leaking fluids, and fortunately the 109 lost contact.

Then carefully approached Lympse, align, lower flaps, wheels.



But touch too fast and Blenheim exceeded the runway... in front elevated rails... I jump over there and a small stream... and go for a tree lines - yes, a virtual ones, but fancied they were "real" and hit the gear lever... the Blenheim cartwheeling and stop in a cloud of dust.



Good emoctions for a ~1 hour of flight.

Sokol1

[5./JG27.Farber]

Originally Posted by Sokol1

A difficult RTB.

My tipical Blenhein flights in ATAG's server follows the green lines in this map:

We have him now boys!

[JG52Krupi]

Originally Posted by 5./JG27.Farber

We have him now boys!

LOL

He's in a blenhiem a slightly strong breeze would have him... That said I know a certain someone who would dogfighting in one and shot down two 109's LMAO

[Sokol1]

This 109 ran to France - with some holes in backside:



And this one, end in a fireball, in middle a potato planting - a maneuver kill:





Sokol1

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by Stealth_Eagle

So you wanted a story, I'll give you a story of survival that actually occured to me (I'll tell another one if you don't like this one).

Hope you enjoyed the story. I know it left you hanging but I can do another one that continues on this one for next week so I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, right?

Threads dead...lets hear that other story

Originally Posted by Sokol1

A difficult RTB.
Over England, north of Dover, a turn to left toward Lympse - my departure base, but this course put me near Hawkinge - "The vultures land".
Sokol1

Funny!

[Stealth_Eagle]

I was in the hospital for about two weeks before I was better again. When I finally got out, I was told by my squadron leader that I had been transferred to the Stuka squadron on a nearby airfield. When I arrived there, the squadron was having dinner. One brave pilot, upon my arrival, stood up and said "Welcome commander, I hope you enjoy your time here." I at once thought about why was I their commander. It turned out my little "stunt" had caused me to get leadership of the squadron.

The next morning I woke up early to plan a strike on some British Tankers. I called in to the commander of my former squadron residence and ask him to see if he could offer escort. He at once agreed to such and I then got my squadron up for the briefing. I had planned out the mission such that we would circle up to about 3500 meters and our fighters would escort at 4000 meters.

Pretty quickly we all were in the air and then we started our slow pace to the the needed height. When then soon headed off towards our target. After making it about halfway across the channel, we then were promptly attacked by some hurricanes. Our kind escort took care of them but we lost two Stukas in the process.

Nothing more eventful occured until the first flak burst appeared, scaring the daylights out of my gunner. As we approached on our targets we split off, each of us targeting an individual ship. Our success that day was about 50% accuracy and I scored a direct hit on one of the tankers that made it nearly go flying. Our gaggle of aircraft then began our trip home. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flight of Spitfires approaching on us, growing increasingly larger by the second.
To be continued...

Please note that all of my stories are from missions that I have flown online but some things are changed (Like the size of the flights) but it is only done so to improve the story's quality and some stories were from multiple flights (You'll better understand it in part 2 of this story)